Drying to create soft denim

[annacobra]

Saalami, in genral machine drying makes cotton softer compared to line-drying, due to the repeated dropping of the garment inside the drum, which "beats up" the garment (add golf balls to the drum, and the garment will be beaten even more).

But the hotter you dry, the stiffer, because tumbling time is shorter, therefore less beating, and because high temperature will dry-out the cotton fiber, making it less flexible.

For ulimate softness, I recomment drying inside out with cool air and adding golfballs.

I am not aware that single cropped cotton has any advantage for the consumer. What is true, is that if cotton is double cropped (that means another crop like wheat is planted and harvested on the same field, alternating over a year's cycle), the cotton yield is a bit lower. This should not have any, or only minimal, effect on quality.

The reason why some cotton is single cropped and some is double cropped, lies in the agricultural circumstances, in general it is better for a farmer to grow two grops on one field to depend less on one single crop's yield and market value.

In this thread: http://www.superfuture.com/supertalk/showthread.php?t=7050 , there is a quote from Fullcount that single cropped cotton has a scarcity value, in my opinion this is not true. From my estimation, for example in China, around 35% of all cotton is single cropped.

I would be delighted if anyone can provide a detailed comparison of quality of single cropped cotton to double cropped cotton. Don't know if such evaluation even exists.

[Paul T]

GOod info annacobra, thanks.

I didn't answer because I have heard of no quality difference in mono- vs double cropped; the double crop does have slightly lower yields, like for like, so it's possible the bolls might be smaller and hence a shorter staple length. But there are problems with mono cropping, mostly to do with soil depletion. And of course, lots of political problems in Zimbabwe, which might well compound environmentally unsound practices such as using a dryer.

Fullcount are wonderful jeans, but when I read those claims it reminds me of other claims about jeans being made on old American looms (BS, and unnecessary, for Toyoda looms are arguably superior to Draper looms), or about Uniqlo denim being the same as some high-price US brands (probably BS, certainly unnecessary). Wear the jeans for how they look and feel, and take the high-falutin claims with a pinch of salt.

[ringring]

Agreed with PaulT, wonderful info Annacobra.

On creating soft denim, another way to create it, outside of the type of cotton used or the wash process, is to spin the yarn looser. If you twist some yarn or hair together, you'll find the same effect. A higher twist will make the yarn/rope stiffer.

A low twist yarn will be fluffier and softer, but care needs to be taken to maintain strength.

Regarding Uniqlo, and their incredibly priced brown wefted selvedge jeans that were discussed here a few seasons ago, it turns out that the denim was indeed of excellent quality. Given the retail price, it would have been logical to expect some compromises in the denim. But not. It was not even one of Kaihara's cheaper denims. The brown weft was from brown cotton and not tinted. Impressive.

[salaami]

thanks for the info guys. ringring(btw it's always nice when we find a topic engaging enough for you to comment on)it's interesting that you brought up the yarn tension, because i know fullcount denim claims to use loose spun thead for softness and high-absorbtion. i'm sure the loose-twisted thread makes for a softer denim overall. next time i'm in NY, i'm heading to uniqlo to see the denim...

[the_ming]

  salaami said:

next time i'm in NY, i'm heading to uniqlo to see the denim...

next time you're in nyc, shoot me a PM and you can see my worn in uniqlos

[salaami]

will do.............what i really want to see is that jacket!

[Ness]

The main areas that produce Cotton in Zimbabwe and is of best quality is Chegutu, Kadoma, Gokwe and Sanyati. A single Cotton produce depletes almost all Nitrogen in the soil. To replenish this, Ground nuts are planted in the next season. The nuts will return almost all the Nitrogen back to the soil.

Another thing I like about Zim, is that the political situation guarantees that no pesticides are used. Instead farmers resort to the use of natural predators, traps and hand picking of pests.

Zimbabweans as laborers are the best, especially when they follow a certain doctrine. So, hand picking of cotton is still highly practiced.